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Friday, May 31, 2013

FIA seek all data from secret tyre test

Image tweeted by a Spanish Fan

The sport’s governing body, the FIA has asked Pirelli to compile a thorough “dossier” ahead of an international tribunal hearing regarding the secret Mercedes test, according to Kleine Zeitung newspaper.

Team boss Ross Brawn is quoted as saying Mercedes could not have benefited from the three-day test in Barcelona just after the Spanish Grand Prix, because Pirelli only supplied engineers with “codes” of the tyres being run.

“So we couldn’t get any usable information,” he said.Kleine Zeitung said Ferrari, who along with Red Bull officially filed the FIA protest, used a similar argument when Ferrari recently conducted a Pirelli tyre test “with an old car”.

Nonetheless, new information about the secret nature of Mercedes’ test continue to emerge, such as La Stampa newspaper’s claim that Lewis Hamilton tweeted a photo apparently from Florida, when actually he was testing in Spain.

Mercedes’ Niki Lauda, however, said Red Bull is simply angry that it didn’t snap up the opportunity of a three-day test before Mercedes.

Asked by Osterreich newspaper if he understands Helmut Marko’s anger, Lauda answered: “Of course. We took the opportunity to test, and I believe Red Bull was quite simply too slow to react. So I would also be annoyed.

“After the protest, the tribunal will decide whether the sporting regulations or the rules that Pirelli has negotiated with the FIA should stand over this.

“We have acted properly, and now an independent tribunal will decide,” added Lauda. (GMM)